In our book, LinkedIn is the top business-serious social media for physicians and hospital execs. And the LinkedIn Groups feature just might be the best online professional forum for the exchange of healthcare and marketing ideas, information and common-interest connections.
In its infancy, LinkedIn was a mash-up between an online resume/job board and a virtual chamber of commerce mixer. That was about a decade ago. Today, LinkedIn is the third most-popular social media site (following Facebook and Twitter), with a current roll call of about 225 million users (and growing), and well over 1.2 million groups.
By definition, “LinkedIn Groups provide a place for professionals in the same industry or with similar interests to share content, find answers, post and view jobs, make business contacts, and establish themselves as industry experts.” Among the benefits of active participation:
- Online connection with professional peers;
- Self-branding and reputation management;
- Personal and professional development and education;
- Employment recruiting (or be recruited);
- Share data, insights and inspiration among colleagues;
- Track industry ideas, trends and thought-leaders; and
- Follow competitive or friendly businesses.
Tips for getting started or digging deeper with Groups…
- It’s all free. There’s no cost for LinkedIn or LinkedIn Groups, but the best results require a little time and effort. A worthwhile investment in your professional development.
- Search and search again. With well over a million options, you’ll need to sort through the Groups Directory, use the search box by keyword, and view LinkedIn’s suggestions.
- Read group descriptions carefully. The purpose and membership for groups should be clear in the description. Note the number of members and the discussion activity.
- Peel the onion. In addition to primary listings, you’ll also find sub-groups (niche topics) and geographical or localized “chapters.”
- Our list is just a starting point, but tell us what we missed. You can join up to 50 groups, and we’ve listed more than that to allow for your refinement. But more importantly, we could have overlooked some hidden gems, and we welcome your feedback.
Our 50 Best Groups for Healthcare and Marketing
Here’s our “starting point” suggestion list, oriented to hospital, medical, dental and healthcare marketing, social media and public relations. We listed additional categories for physician relations, and a broader interest set of “general marketing” groups (not specific to healthcare.) For reference, the number of members in the group is noted [in brackets]. Our own Healthcare Success sponsored educational groups are marked with an asterisk.
HEALTHCARE MARKETING, SOCIAL & PR (Hospital, Medical, Dental)
Dental Practice Management* [1,116]
Forum for Healthcare Strategists [4,127]
Health Care Communication News [2,331]
Health Care Marketing Network [4,531]
Healthcare Executive US [14,693]
Healthcare Executives Network [107,295]
Healthcare Intelligence Hub [648]
Healthcare Marketing [3,007]
Healthcare Marketing & PR Professionals [1,460]
Healthcare Marketing Network [4,541]
Healthcare Marketing, Communications and Education Professionals [11,638]
Healthcare Patient/Customer Satisfaction [795]
Healthcare Sales & Marketing [10,963]
Healthcare Success Strategies Medical Marketing Group* [932]
Hospital Marketing and Advertising* [82]
Hospital Sales & Marketing Professionals [5,641]
HPRMA – The Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Association [213]
Improving the e-Patient Experience [91]
Improving the Patient Experience [51]
Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) [25,849]
Medical Marketing & Communications Group [21,890]
Medical Marketing Network [10,368]
Medical Practice Management* [490]
Medical/Healthcare Communications, Education, Advertising & Marketing Professionals [4,999]
Professional Healthcare Marketers [656]
Reproductive Medicine Marketing – IVF ART Infertility* [343]
Social Marketing in Healthcare [927]
Social Media Health Care Marketing (#smhcm) [662]
Social Media Marketing for the Health Care Field [2,286]
Social Media Marketing Professionals in Healthcare [47]
Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) [9,129]
The Healthcare Marketing Community [1,240]
The Patient Experience [2,825]
UBM Medica Hospital Marketing + Business Development Group [434]
PHYSICIAN RELATIONS
Physician Liaisons, Physicians Relations & Practice Representatives* [512]
Physician Relation Strategies [2,290]
Physician Relationship Management Group [686]
GENERAL MARKETING, ADVERTISING, INTERNET & SOCIAL MEDIA
AMA – American Marketing Association [11,152]
CMO Executive Network [5,949]
Digital Marketing [393,393]
eMarketing Association Network [541,931]
Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators Innovation Network [232,309]
Marketing Communication [122,468]
Marketing Communications ROI Forum [3,355]
Marketing Profs [18,906]
Social Media Marketing [681,395]
Refer to LinkedIn Help Center for more help finding and joining a group.
What did we miss? Tell us about your favorite or most useful LinkedIn professional group. What would you add to this list?
* Educational group sponsored by Healthcare Success Strategies